William Paul McDonald was born on 29 August 1984, in Auburn, Alabama USA, and is a songwriter and singer, best known for competing in the 10th season of “American Idol”. He placed eighth overall in the competition which helped his music career move forward. All of his endeavours have helped put his net worth to where it is today.
How rich is Paul McDonald? As of mid-2016, sources estimate a net worth that is at $600,000, mostly earned through a career in the music industry. He has been the lead singer of the band Hightide Blues since 2005 – the band was renamed to The Grand Magnolias in 2010. As he continues his career it is expected that his wealth will continue to increase.
Paul McDonald Net Worth $600,000
Paul attended Huntsville High School, and during his time there played for the school’s varsity football team. He was also part of the school play, “The Wizard of Oz”. After matriculating, he went on to attend Auburn University, but nearing graduation, he left school to focus on his music career in Nashville.
In 2005, Paul and his fellow Auburn University student Jonathan Pears started writing songs together, which eventually led to the formation of the band Hightide Blues. They and two other members started performing around Alabama, and McDonald put his education on hold so that they could eventually release the EP “Hightide Blues” in 2007. The following year they produced an album entitled “Love Come Easy”; a few songs found a bit of play time on the radio, bur soon Hightide Blues would find popularity through the internet. They’ve received several awards from Ourstage.com, and have toured around the country alongside other bands. During the peak of their popularity, they would perform 150-200 shows a year.
In 2010, the band decided to move to Nashville and rename themselves which led to the release of “The Grand Magnolias” – the album found a significant amount of popularity after Paul joined “American Idol”, and went on to peak in 12th spot of the Billboard Heatseekers chart.
2011 was the year that Paul got his golden ticket to compete in the “American Idol” Hollywood stage; he made it to the Top 24, and would then be one of the 10 candidates chosen via voting. Since he was gaining popularity through the show, McDonald started promoting his band and communicating with fans through the social media website Twitter. In April 2011, he was eliminated and landed at 8th place, however, after the season ended, he along with the 11 other contestants went on the “American Idols Live Tour” which spanned several cities in the US, meantime recording a song with Nikki Reed entitled “Now That I’ve Found You”. He’s appeared in a few projects and music videos since.
In 2014, Paul started his solo career by releasing a song entitled “Bright Lights”.
In his personal life, McDonald married actress Nikki Reed in 2011, after meeting while on an “American Idol” segment premiering the film “Red Riding Hood”. However, three years later the couple separated and filed for divorce, which was finalized in 2015.
